Black Heritage Network Meeting 

November 20, 2000 

Participant’s Output 

Meeting Participants: Donna Ford (Interim Chair), Jennifer Dunkerson, Lyn Roberts, Wilma Morrison, June Harper, Harry Harper, Ada Summers, Jim Hill, Rick Mander, Neville Nunes, Rochelle Bush, Marilyn Driscoll, Greg McCandless. 

Resource People: Karen Daniels, Lorraine Hogan, Paul Samson. 

Changes to Minutes of the September 25th Meeting: 

Clarification regarding information in SWOT analysis document 

1. Salem Chapel (section under « threats ») – Issue regarding the denial of the connection between Harriet Tubman and the church is a local issue that does not affect the work of the Network. 

2. Bertie Hall – the property belongs to the Parks Commission but the museum is a separate entity. The issue listed under « threats » regarding lack of local support is a local issue and not a Network issue. 

3. Welland Historical Museum – the Black Heritage exhibit is on display until June 30, 2001. 

4. Griffin House – under the « strengths » section the house was in the family from 1834 1984. 

Business Arising from September 25th Meeting: 

City of St. Catharines proposal to Canada’s Digital Collections Program 

  • $20,000 grant was approved by Industry Canada last week.
  • Anticipating starting the project in December or early January. 
  • Purpose of the grant is to hire 4 young people to work on the development of a web-site on the Underground Railroad 
  • Steering committee will be formed to oversee the project including: hiring of youth, content, format, name and area of scope (flexibility to expand the scope of the project outside Niagara region). 
  • Niagara College is interested in being a project partner and can provide technical support through their multi-media department. 
  • The site will be hosted on the Industry Canada web-site, however, the City has the ability to include other features such as: e-commerce component, education materials that teachers can download etc… 
  • Network members willing to participate on the project steering committee: Rochelle Bush, Lyn Roberts, Wilma Morrison, Neville Nunes, Lorraine Hogan, Arlene White. 

Letter of Intent 

  • Core sites have met twice since the September 25th meeting  to finalize the Letter of Intent. 
  • Letter of Intent is being circulated to core sites for signature.
  • Griffin House returned signed copy. 

New Business 

Name Change

  • Name of the Network has been changed to the « Central Ontario Network for Black History », 
  • The name may have to be re-visited in the future should the Network decide to incorporate. As part of the incorporation process, groups must do a name search. If the current name is not accepted then the Network may have to modify it. 

HRDC Application 

  • Donna Ford and Jennifer Dunkerson to meet to begin to draft the application for funding. 
  • Paul Samson to follow up with Christine Dudley, co- ordinator of the Windsor Network to see if copies of their two HRDC applications can be shared. 

African Canadian Heritage Tour Network 

  • Received not for profit status which will enable the Network to access other sources of funding. 
  • Steve, Marketing Manager, has started to sell tee-shirts to raise funds for the Network. Each tee-shirt cost $10.45 (including cost of the art work) that sites are selling for $15- 18 each. The proceeds from the sale of the tee-shirts go to the site and the Network. The tee-shirts have the face from the brochures on the front with a map of the Windsor sites on the back. Their first order was for 150 tee-shirts of which they have sold 145. Steve is preparing to submit a second order for which the price of the tee-shirts has dropped to $8.50 each (due to volume) and is prepared to order tee- shirts for the Niagara Network. The Niagara tee-shirts would have the same front with a map to the Niagara/Central Ontario sites on the back. The Network can do this collectively or each site can contact Steve to place an individual order. The Windsor Network is expecting to raise $1500 from the sale of the tee-shirts next year.